Grate



March 14, 1933. Q S BOWM 1,901,698

GRATE Filed May 4. 1931 Patented Mar. 14,. 1933 UNITED STATES OLIVER s.BOWMAN, or coLoRAnosPRINGs, coLonA'no enema Applicationifiled May 4,1931. Serial. No. 5351.851.

and heaters of all types. 1

It is an object of this invention to produce a grate of suchconstruction that it shall be especially well adapted for use withselffeeding furnaces that employ slack coal or 10 coal that has beencrushed to reduce its size.

7 Another object of this invention is to produce a grate that shall havemeans for agitating parts thereo f'in such away that the fire can becleaned of ashes and clinkers without seriously disturbingthe fire bed;The above and other objects that may become apparent as this descriptionproceeds are attained'by means ofa construction and an arrangementofparts that will now be describedin detail and for this purposereference will be hadto the accompanying drawing in which the preferredembodiment of the invention has been illustrated and in which: I l aFig. 1 is a diametrical sectionthrough a furnace equipped with myimproved grate; Fig. 2 is a top plan View taken on line 22, Fig. 1, andshows a sector of the grate; Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3, Fig.2, and shows'the manner in whichthje tiltable sections of the grate aremounted; Fig. '4- is a section taken on 'line 44,

Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a section taken-on line 5-5, Fig. 4; and j Fig. 6 is a viewshowing the ring that is connected with the tiltable sections and whichserves to tilt them about their axes.

In the drawing reference numeral 1" rep- 0 resents the surface of afloor or some. other hot air passageway 7, all'as is common in hot airfurnace construction. Although this invention has been shown inconnectionwith a'hotair furnace,=it is to be understood that the grateand'the other parts that co- PAT N operate with it are equally welladapted for boilers or any other heating appliance.

Secured to the inner surfaceof ring 2, or cast integral therewith, is aninwardly'extending flange 8 that serves as asupport for the gratesections. The lowerendof ring 4 extends inwardly a short distancefromthe inner surfaceof rin 2' so as" to form an overhanging shoulder 9.The grate is composed of a number 'ofsectors having upwardly inclinedportions 10fthat when they are I assembled, form a conicalsurface suchas indicated by reference numeral. 11in Fig. 1. The extreme tipsofthei'several sectorsjare provided with inwardly projecting projections12 that are adapted toproject overa collar 13 onthe upright support 14:.This support has its lower end connected with a base 15 that "rests'onasupporting bar 16.; The ends of bar16 are secured to the inside'of ring"2. The lower ends-of the grate sections 10 are provided with outwardlyextending projections that outer ends are connected as indicated at 18.The two arms 17 are spaced apart 'as shown in Fig. 2 andthe lowerends-of sections 10 are provided with bearings 19,-while the are formedfrom'two spaced'arms 17, whose transverse portions 18 have bearings 20..

The parts'17 are so'related to'th'e' parts 10 that when the grate is inplacefthe partsl'? 'will lie in a horizontal plane. *In' the exampleillustrated, thereare sixteen sections of grate and when these areassembled, they form a complete upwardly extending coni'cal projectionsurrounding the support 14.- Mounted on each outwardly extending radialprojection is a rockinggrate'segment 21.

These-segments when assembled form an annular; flat surface and eachrocking grate segment is provided with trunnions 22 that engage in the''bearings '19 and 20. Each rocking grate segment is also-providedwith 1a downwardly extending arm 23 that projects through the opening betweenmember J provided with two diametrical slots 33 havway the height of theringand the thickness 1 openings would pass into the ash pit.

17. The lower end of each arm 23 has a slot. The inner surfaces of theparts 24 on each side of the slot are convexly curved as indicated inFig. 5. Supported on the upright 14 and the upper end of the base 15 isa wheel having a hub 25 and spokes 26. The outer ends of the spokes areconnected by means of a rim '27 and this rim is provided on its outersurface with a number of radial projections 28, there being oneprojection for each rocking grate segment. The projections 28 extendinto the slots and therefore when the wheel to which the projections aresecured is rocked about its pivot, it will impart simultaneousrockingmotion to all of the rocking grate segments 21. r A

handle 29 is connected with the rim 27 and extends through slots in thering 2 and in the sheet metal housing and when this handle is moved backand forth, the grate segments 21 will be rocked about their trunnions.

In the embodiment shown the coal is fed into the furnace and onto thegrate through an inclined conduit 30. The upper end of this conduit maybe connected with a hopper which has not been shown, and the lower endis curved so as to terminate in a portion 31 having avertical axis. Theaxis ofthe portion iii-preferably coincides with the axis of the support14. Thecon- 'duit terminates a short distance above the upper surface ofthe grate-so that the coal all connected together so as to form a ring,

surface until it reaches .a predetermined V thickness and as the coalburns it will automatically be replaced with coal fromv the conduit, Inorder to determine the thickness of the coal,'a movable ring 32 has beensecured to the end portion 31. Portion 31 is ing notches 34and thering32 has inwardly extending pins 35 that project through the slots andengage the notches, and in this of the coal layer can be adjusted.

The furnace is preferably provided with a recess for the reception ofthe ashes as indicated in Fig. 1. V c

From the above description. it will be seen that the grate that formsthe subject of this invention consists of a central conical portion withits apex upwards and whose base is surrounded by an annular flatgratesurface composed of a plurality of segments 21 that can be rockedsimultaneously and which therefore serves to clean the fire of ashes andcinders and permit the latter to fall downwardly into the space belowthe grate. By'rocking the segments 21,-a better cleaning actionisobtained than if they were as in the latter case only particles ofsuch small size that they could pass through the This grate isespecially well adapted for self-feeding furnaces of the type shown andhas been found to be very efficient in operation.

Having described the invention what is claimed as new is:

1. A grate for a coal burning device comprising, a central conicalportion'having its apex at the top, said conical portion being composedof a number of sectors provided at their lower ends with projectionsextend ing in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the conical part,each projection having two radially spaced bearings, a segment-of anannular grate portion rockably supported on each pair of radial bearingsand means for simultaneously rocking thesegmental porconsisting of aplurality of sectors which,

when assembled forma cone-whose apex is upwards, the upper end of eachsector. hav- 50 ing a projection at its top for engaging the support anda projection at its base that extends radially and lies in a plane thatis perpendicular to the axis of the cone, th e outer ends ofthe radialprojections extend ing over onto the ledge,each radial projection havingtwo spaced bearings, a" section of anannular grate ring'supported oneach pair of bearings, the several sections being each mounted to rockabouta radial axis, and means for simultaneously rocking all of theannular grate sections. 7 r

3. A device for burning coal comprising,- a fire pot having an inwardlyextending ledge and a'central vertical support, a grate conp sisting ofa plurality of sectors which, when assembled form a cone whose apex isupwards, the upper end of each sector having a projection at its top forengaging the support and its base provided with a radial projection thatlies in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the cone, the outer ends ofthe radial projections extending over onto the ledge, each radialprojection having two spaced bearings, a section ofv an annular gratering supported on each pairvof bearings, the several sections forming anannular grate in which each section is mounted to rock about a radialaxis, and means for simultaneously rocking all of vthesections, saidmeans comprising'a ring mounted for rotation about the vertical support,the ring having a radial projection for each grate section and eachgrate section having'two spaced fingers that project downwardly one oneach side of a projection, and means for oscillating the ring wherebythe grate sec.- tions will be rocked about their radial axes.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

oLIvERs'. BOWMAN.

